Rocky View Schools reviews Annual Education Results

For the 2015-2019 Four Year Plan, staff with the Rocky View Schools (RVS) district believe that significant progress was made in the areas of literacy, numeracy, and social emotional development.

The 2018/19 Annual Education Results Report was recently presented at the monthly RVS meeting to review the final year.

Every year, RVS issues a satisfaction survey to staff, parents, and, students. In June 2019, a total of 21,248 surveys were completed.

“Our results are steady and stable,” said Superintendent of Schools Greg Luterbach.

“There are some small bumps, but no real statistical difference from year to year.”

The main goals of the Four Year Plan were to have learners be successful in literacy and numeracy, engaged, and supported.

Over a three-year average, the survey revealed that 74.3 per cent of respondents feel that students are successful in their skills and knowledge, 77.7 agree that there is engaged learning, and 79.3 per cent feel that students are getting the supports they need.

Luterbach said that RVS is doing very well in its results, but one area of concern is the high school drop-out rate.

From 2018 to 2019, the rate climbed from 1.2 to 1.8 per cent. In comparison, the provincial drop our rate is currently 2.6 per cent.

“In context, we’re are still substantially lower than the province, but we would like to not have any kids dropping out at all,” said Luterbach.

The high school complete rate has also dropped from 84.9 to 81.9 per cent, compared to the current rate of 79.1 per cent for the province.

The percentage of students in RVS who achieve an acceptable standard on Provincial Achievement Tests in literacy and numeracy is slighter lower than the average rate for the province.

For Grade 6, a total of 80.2 per cent of RVS students achieve the acceptable standard in Language Arts, compared to 83.2 of the provincial average. For Grade 9, it’s 74.3 per cent compared to 75.1, and for English 30-1 in high school, the rate is 97.9 compared to 98 per cent.

“Work on literacy never ends,” said Luterbach.

“It’s one of those bread-and-butter foundational skills that kids need to have. I think schools are becoming more comfortable in those areas, so they’re turning their attention towards numeracy.”

The results for Provincial Achievement Tests in Math 9 are of particular concern, with the lowest percentage of students achieving an acceptable score at 54.5. The provincial average is 60 per cent.

“There is some concern there,” said Luterbach.

“Math results are dropping across the province. This isn’t a new conversation, but we’re discussing how to move forward and address that.”

A new mapping tool will be used by teachers and staff to understand which concepts their students are having trouble grasping.

“For example, if we see across the district that students are struggling with Concept 4, we will be having our teachers target that concept,” said Luterbach.

“Our kids need help in their learning, and our teachers are here to do that.”

One other area of concern in the results of the report in student engagement, which shows discrepancies between respondents.

“In these surveys, we sometimes see dichotomy between what the students, parents, and staff are saying,” said Luterbach.

“So we have to look at the trends to see what’s going on.”

The percentage of respondents who agreed that there was engagement in learning was only 57.9 per cent for students, compared to 80.1 per cent of parents and 87.4 of staff.

“The percentage of students who say they are happy to go to school also continues to decline,” said Luterbach.

“Only 54 per cent of kids in Grades 4 to 12 say they are happy to go to school. If they don’t feel engaged and don’t feel like they have a voice in their learning, then they won’t be happy. We think if we improve engagement, that could drive up happiness. So that’s our ongoing challenge.”

RVS will be moving into the new 2020-2023 Four Year Plan – I CAN, which stands for connect, achieve, and navigate.